Ed Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director for pharmacy policy and strategy, office of the CMO, Aetna, says payers and health plans are preparing for patient-centered care by utilizing digital tools. Everything from virtual people to cost search tools are used to assist employed and general patient populations. Dr Pezalla says many of these tools will also be used in the public and private health insurance exchanges to help people make decisions as they purchase health plans.

“It’s not just a matter of choosing on cost, but choosing a plan that will work for them in terms of their medical and financial situation,” he says.

On March 4, The American Journal of Managed Care will be live-reporting the news from the Supreme Court oral arguments in the case of King v. Burwell. In the meantime, here is a recap of the news leading up to the lawsuit's day in court.

While the majority of primary care physicians are aware of and use state prescription drug monitoring programs to reduce drug abuse and diversion, many do not access these programs routinely, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The study in Health Affairs published by Samir Soneji, PhD, an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, found that despite a sharp rise in healthcare spending,caner mortality rates are very high in the US compared to Western Europe.

The Patient Access Network or PAN Foundation formed more than 10 years ago, partially in response to the Medicare Part D benefit. It helps patients meet cost-sharing requirements across dozens of diseases, including 25 in oncology; Evidence-Based Oncology, a publication of The American Journal of Managed Care, invited PAN Foundation President and CEO Dan Klein to discuss its role in immuno-oncology.

The use of adjuvant systemic therapy for localized gastrointestinal stromal tumors has significantly increased over time, a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Oncology, has found, and patients treated with the therapy have better survival than those treated with surgery alone, researchers say.

The study found that following Genetech's decision to restrict the distribution of it's 3 popular cancer medications through specific specialty distributors, patient access to the drugs has reduced while costs have increased.